Arkansas’ football season took a drastic turn for the worse last Friday at Missouri.
Coughing up a 24-7 halftime lead to a very poor Tigers team will not only have ramifications this year, but possibly the next and into the future.
The Hogs entered the game 7-4 with a good chance to finish 8-4 with a better bowl bid than it received the past two years. The prospects of possibly finishing 9-4 with a win over a quality team in a decent bowl had most fans satisfied, even with lopsided losses at Auburn and at home to LSU.
However, a 3-8 Tigers team decided not to quit on its season. Not even a 17-point halftime deficit with a half empty stadium was going to keep it from making a final push. Barry Odom’s staff made adjustments, and the players played the second half with vigor. As a result they pulled off the greatest comeback in school history and won 28-24.
The second half was the opposite of the first. Arkansas looked out-coached and out-hustled. The Hogs came up empty twice on a fourth-and-goal play that would have given them the lead with the touchdown.
Questionable effort, play-calling and execution, and a lackluster defense led to one of the worst collapses in Razorback football history. And it came against Missouri, a team that has struggled mightily despite putting up hefty offensive numbers - a team that lost to Middle Tennessee at home and had a six-game losing streak during the season.
Arkansas was a favorite, and it should have won. All the Razorbacks had to do was finish the second half.
Now, in the aftermath those that were already unhappy with a lethargic defense are livid, and some who have been squarely in Bielema’s corner are questioning the coach after his four-year SEC record of 10-22 and 25-25 overall.
I think a solid argument can be made for the progress he has made in a division which has been the toughest in college football, but what happened last week makes it more difficult to defend.
Now, instead of a possibility of 9-4, the Hogs are looking at a chance of finishing 7-6. Talk about a stunning turn of events. It would be so much easier to win the recruiting battle strutting into a recruit’s living room bragging about a bowl win and nine wins with a schedule loaded with Top 25 opponents.
Bielema said after the loss he doesn’t have plans for staff chances “at this time,” but this loss may not give him a choice. Winning cures many things, even softening the critics of a defense which never came close to meeting the lofty expectations set forth by Bielema and defensive coordinator Robb Smith.
Still, If the Hogs had finished on a three-game winning streak, Bielema would have a much better case for sticking with Smith. But Missouri and its sophomore quarterback Drew Lock torching the Hogs defensive backs for long touchdowns and outscoring Arkansas 21-0 in the second half would seem to be the final straw. It could even get worse with a bowl loss.
Bielema’s own status may also be under more scrutiny especially if he doesn’t make any changes. Fans expected to win nine or 10 games by this point. It isn’t going to happen in 2016, and you can’t blame critics for being skeptical about next year. Without significant improvement on defense Arkansas is looking at 7-5 again.
That won’t sit well with supporters. Is it asking too much to win more than seven games at Arkansas in the SEC? Maybe, but Bielema knows he isn’t being paid $4 million to eke out a winning season and play in lower-tier bowl games every year.
And that is the key - every year.
No bowl game the first year and middle-tier bowl berths the next three? When does that become unacceptable? We know that wouldn’t fly at other SEC schools like Auburn, LSU and Georgia. We have seen coaches fired for better finishes.
Arkansas had its chance to buck the trend, to pick up more wins and maybe play in a more attractive bowl. The Razorbacks blew it and now have made for a very uncomfortable situation.
It will be up to the coaches to make sure the loss wasn't a downward turning point, but it seems like it could be a difficult one from which to rebound.
Nate Olson is a contributor for WholeHogSports